Aurélio Matavele Júnior was last week sworn in as general director of the Financial Intelligence Office of Mozambique (GIFIM), alongside Luís Cezerilo, who took up the post of deputy director in a ceremony presided by Prime Minister Adriano Maleiane.
The new appointees were tasked with the mission of removing the country from the ‘grey list’ of the International Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
During the swearing-in ceremony, Maleiane stressed that the new men at the helm of the GIFIM must assume the leadership of this strategic institution in terms of preventing and combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism, and other related crimes.
He highlighted that the process of socio-economic globalisation is accompanied by multiple challenges, including transnational crime often related to human trafficking, kidnapping, drugs, terrorism, corruption and tax evasion, among other crimes.
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Such offences are committed by individuals who illegally obtain financial resources and subsequently introduce them into the economic and financial system in various ways, such as money laundering, thereby disturbing the economic and financial systems of countries.
“Preventing and combating money laundering requires effective coordination and articulation between the legislative, executive, judicial, police, financial, economic and civil society sectors,” Maleiane said.
At the same time, the government, aware of the damage caused by money laundering and terrorist financing, has been taking measures to prevent and combat these phenomena, which negatively affect the economy and society in general.
It was in this context that, last year, the law on the prevention of and combatting money laundering and terrorist financing was revised, establishing a legal regime and measures of prevention and repression in relation to the use of the financial system and non-financial entities for the purposes of money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
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Mozambique is already a signatory to several international conventions and organizations, including the Group of Southern and East African Countries against Money Laundering (ESAAMLG) and the International Financial Action Group (FATF). These international bodies, in addition to issuing periodic reports, have supported Mozambique in the adoption and implementation of legislation and measures to prevent and combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
“At this time, when our country is under increased monitoring by the FATF, your commitment and dedication will be crucial for coordinating and streamlining the implementation of the reforms contained in the Action Plan that aims to remove our country from the so-called ‘grey list’,” Prime Minister Maleiane added.
